Kyle Busch used a fast late pit stop to get the lead in the Heluva Good! 200, then hung on for the win and collected his fifth win of the season.
He benefited from Hornaday having to battle and bicker with Harvick for second, had a right front tire that was getting wobblier with each lap and would win by 0.560 seconds.
Seems Speed TV was wrong about a rivalry between Hornaday and Busch. It sure looked to me like Harvick is the one with a rivalry with Busch and gets possessed trying to beat him.
We saw arguably the best paint scheme ever at New Hampshire with Mike McDowell's No. 98 Perkins Police/Thorsport Racing Silverado painted like a police cruiser.
Inspired by Crafton's debacle at Gateway, the fact Kevin Harvick was racing in a third KHI entry and someone was scared.
Mike Skinner in the No. 5 Exide Batteries Toyota started on the pole. It was his second pole of the season and his 48th career pole.
Kyle Busch in the No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota started from the outside pole position.
Ron Hornaday Jr. in the No. 33 Copart Cheverolet started third, Austin Dillon in the No. 3 Bad Boy Mowers Chevrolet started fourth, and Kevin Harvick in the No. 2 DupliColor Chevrolet started fifth.
At race time it was 62 degrees and sunny. 36 trucks started the race and the pit window was 80-90 laps.
Pole winner Mike Skinner would elect to start the race from the outside position and not to line up in the inside position.
From the drop of the green on Lap One, you had four wide action on back through the field, and Skinner and Busch made contact twice as they battled side by side for the lead.
Skinner would ultimately lead the first lap, Hornaday fourth would be all over Dillon's bumper for third and Harvick lost fifth to Brian Scott in the No. 16 Albertson's Toyota.
On Lap Three, Skinner and Busch were still battling for the lead, Hornaday took third from Dillon and Harvick lost sixth to Johnny Sauter in the No. 13 Funsand/Rodney Atkins/Curb Records Chevrolet.
On Lap Four, Hornaday third was on Busch's bumper in second trying to make a pass on the low-side for the position, but he couldn't make the pass stick.
They battled for the position side by side. On Lap Six, Hornaday got loose under Busch but was able to save it and gather it back up without losing a position.
On Lap Seven, Todd Bodine in the No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota lost power, made it to pit road and had no oil pressure.
By Lap Eight, Skinner led by half a second on Busch, Hornaday after getting loose was about a second behind the leader.
On Lap Nine, Harvick was on Matt Crafton in the No. 88 Menard's Chevrolet bumper for fifth and battling for the position.
Harvick had dropped back to seventh due to his truck being loose but corrected itself and he started to pick up positions.
On Lap 10, Harvick passed by Crafton on the low-side for fifth, under cut him making contact and crinkled the left front fender on Crafton's truck.
That would be the only occurrence of what happened at Gateway, which Harvick could have left alone and figured after practice that he would have left it alone.
After 12 Laps, the top five was; Skinner leading, Busch second, Hornaday third, Sauter fourth and Harvick fifth.















10 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete